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THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A  CHILD 


BOOKS  BY 

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CULTURE  AND   REFORM 

GIVING   WHAT  WE   HAVE 

VICTORY  OF  OUR   FAITH 

WHAT  GOOD   DOES  WISHING   DO? 

WHAT   IS  WORTH   WHILE? 

THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A  CHILD 

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THOMAS   Y.   CROWELL    &   CO. 

NEW  YORK 


THE   SPIRITUAL  CARE 
OF   A   CHILD 


BY 


ANNA  ROBERTSON  BROWN  LINDSAY,  PH.D. 

^ 

AUTHOB  OF  "WHAT  is  WOBTH  WHILE?"  "CULTURE  AND 

REFORM,"  "GIVING  WHAT  WE  HAVE,"  "WHAT 

GOOD  DOES  WISHING  Do?"  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPTBIGHT,  1907, 

BY  THOMAS  Y.  CBOWELL  <fe  COMPANY. 


PUBLISHED,  SBPTBMBBB,  1907. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A  CHILD 

THE  upbringing  of  a  child  is  one  of  the 
most  ancient  of  arts,  and  yet  to  this  day,  in 
certain  of  its  phases,  it  is  the  least  mastered. 
The  physical  care  of  a  child  has  been  deeply 
studied,  —  a  baby's  food  is  now  analyzed  and 
measured  to  the  fraction  of  an  ounce.  Its 
intellectual  life  has  been  provided  for,  —  we 
have  a  progressive  system  of  education  from 
the  kindergarten  to  the  close  of  the  graduate 
courses  of  a  University.  But  when  we  ex- 
amine into  the  problem  of  the  best  spiritual 
care  of  a  child,  we  find  ourselves  far  from 
fixed  guidance. 

Civilization  itself,  over-refined  and  sensuous, 
hampers  both  word  and  deed.  There  is  a 
moral  constriction  in  public  sentiment,  and 
aspiration  is  too  often  hampered  by  what 
others  say.  Our  times  are  the  best  times  of 
the  world,  and  yet  in  many  ways  the  spirit 
of  the  age  is  intensely  hostile  to  a  child's 
best  welfare. 

5 

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6         THE  SPIRITUAL   CdPE  OF  A   CHILD 

Consider  the  general  type  of  citizenship 
which  we  are  to-day  preparing  in  the  Ameri- 
can nation.  Do  we  not  too  often  overlay 
childhood  with  impressions  of  a  bitter  struggle 
for  wealth,  fame,  position,  or  material  success, 
to  the  inevitable  coarsening  of  temperament, 
and  degradation  of  ideals  ?  Do  we  not  under- 
mine fibre  when  we  buy  our  children  in- 
dolence and  ease  ?  Do  we  not  put  toy  pistols 
and  noise  for  patriotism,  and  stories  of  mis- 
chievous children,  who  daily  imagine  new 
tricks,  for  the  great  and  ancient  heroisms  of 
the  race?  Do  we  not  apparently  value  reck- 
lessness instead  of  courage,  competition  instead 
of  loving-kindness?  Do  we  not  put  forth 
hasty  impulses  or  soft-tongued  sentiments  for 
real  convictions  ?  —  careless  parenthood  for 
reasoned  control  ?  —  indifference  for  political 
and  civic  ardor? 

At  the  same  time  we  are  confronted,  as  a 
nation,  with  the  gravest  and  most  inspiring 
possibilities  of  history.  Every  impression  in- 
fluences type.  Will  these  conditions  of  child- 
hood result  in  the  balanced  temperament,  the 
just  outlook,  the  regal  endowments  necessary 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD        1 

for  spiritual  control?  The  only  right  we 
have  to  bring  children  into  the  world,  is  to 
add  to  the  spiritual  force  of  the  universe. 
Populations  are  not  nations,  mere  creatures 
are  not  significant,  and  uninspired  children 
are  but  a  kind  of  spawn. 

Pertness  and  irreverence  are  our  national 
disgrace.  Thinking  men  and  women  are 
convinced  that  brilliant  ability  in  the  way  of 
business  does  not  necessarily  make  men  or 
corporations  honest,  nor  does  public  office 
make  men  incorruptible  to  private  privilege  ; 
professional  standing  in  art  or  literature  is 
not  always  accompanied  by  high  moral  char- 
acter ;  and  we  are  confronted,  not  only  with 
conditions  of  labor  among  the  poorer  classes 
that  are  appalling,  not  only  with  luxury  and 
idleness  in  the  wealthier  ranks,  but  by  the 
reasons  for  these  conditions,  and  by  prob- 
lems which,  reaching  out  to  all  classes,  seem 
to  concern  the  generic  life  of  man. 

Even  the  scientific  study  and  application 
of  the  psychology  of  childhood,  valuable  as 
it  is,  does  not  of  itself  produce  strong  char- 
acter. Parents,  teachers,  pastors,  and  all 


8         THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

those  interested  in  the  higher  development  of 
children  are  beginning  to  ask  :  How  can  we 
meet  modern  civilization  with  weapons  which 
shall  guard  our  children  from  the  darts  of 
sin?  How  can  we  strengthen  them  for  the 
physical  strain  of  life,  —  for  their  private 
duties,  and  their  public  responsibilities  ?  How 
can  we  bring  up  our  children  in  spiritual 
health  ?  —  to  that  sane  outlook  over  life  which 
is  not  worn  by  worry,  nor  unbalanced  by  sor- 
row ;  which  is  undiscouraged  by  difficulty,  and 
unspoilt  by  victory;  which  can  meet  life  with 
quiet  nerves,  a  sense  of  humor,  a  sense  of  maj- 
esty, and  a  realization  of  spiritual  opportunity  ? 
Let  us  begin  an  old,  and  yet  new  pro- 
gramme. Let  us  believe  that  the  relation  of 
the  soul  to  God  is  the  most  important  thing 
in  life.  The  foundations  of  the  spiritual  life 
lie  deep  in  prayer  and  reverie.  Leisure,  cul- 
ture, and  meditation  have  social  uses,  as  well 
as  the  jumping  hurry  of  doing.  If  we  do 
truly  thus  believe,  we  shall  plan  our  business, 
our  professional  interests,  our  household  hours, 
our  companionships,  our  reading,  our  amuse- 
ments, and  our  public  service  in  the  light  of 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD       9 

this  belief,  and  shall  not  apparently  try  to  in- 
voke, at  one  moment,  the  help  of  the  divine 
spirit,  and  at  another  to  breathe  forth  indiffer- 
ence, worldliness,  or  antagonism  toward  God. 
Can  we  lift  our  children  higher  than  our  own 
ideals  ?  Can  we  lift  them  at  all,  if  we  do  not 
work  out  our  ideals  in  some  practical  way  ? 

Let  us  give  our  children  a  positive  religious 
training.  Let  our  religious  teaching  be  defi- 
nite and  continuous.  If  we  wish  to  drive  a 
nail  into  the  wall,  we  do  not  say  :  Oh,  let  the 
wall  alone.  When  those  boards  are  older,  the 
spike  will  go  in  of  itself.  Nor  do  we  give  it 
one  or  two  desultory  raps  with  a  hammer,  look- 
ing elsewhere  as  we  pound.  We  choose  the 
exact  spot  where  the  nail  is  to  go,  and  with 
deliberate  strokes,  and  an  eye  on  the  nailhead, 
pound  it  firmly,  until  it  is  fixed  in  the  desired 
spot,  —  then  clinch  it.  If  we  wish  truths  to 
lodge  in  a  child's  soul,  we  need  not  expect  that 
some  haphazard  chance  of  life  will  place  them 
there,  nor  suppose  that  they  will  become  fixed 
as  we  wish  them  to,  without  a  definite  purpose 
on  our  part,  and  persistent  effort. 

Still  less  would  we  expect  a  garden  to  grow, 


10       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

if,  on  looking  over  a  tract  of  ground,  we  should 
say  :  I  shall  have  roses  and  apples  there  by 
and  by.  Not  that  I  have  ever  planted  rose- 
slips  there,  or  set  out  fruit-trees,  —  I  do  not 
believe  in  forcing  a  crop  that  way,  —  but  in 
a  few  years  roses  and  fruit-trees  will  probably 
spring  up  there  of  their  own  accord. 

We  cannot  make  our  children  spiritual,  any 
more  than  we  can  make  a  garden  grow.  But 
we  know  that  if  we  will  plant  good  seed  in 
good  soil,  and  rightly  tend  it,  by  and  by  the 
desired  plant  will  appear.  Life  springs,  though 
we  know  not  how. 

But  what  shall  we  plant?  What  spiritual 
flowers  and  fruit  do  we  wish  to  cultivate  in 
our  children?  What  shall  we  sow  broadcast, 
to  be  quickened  of  God  ?  Let  us  decide,  first 
of  all,  whether  or  not  we  wish  them  to  bring 
forth  the  fruits  of  a  distinctively  Christian  life. 
Let  us  next  ask  ourselves  whether  we  are  will- 
ing to  put  into  the  spiritual  care  of  our  chil- 
dren the  time,  strength,  money,  love,  and  pa- 
tience necessary.  If  so,  let  each  of  us  now 
take  a  sheet  of  paper  and  mark  down  on  it 
the  traits  that  we  sincerely  wish  to  develop 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A  CHILD      11 

in  our  children.  On  another  sheet  let  us  mark 
the  traits  that  our  children  now  actually  have 
through  their  heredity,  temperament,  or  present 
environment. 

We  shall  at  once  perceive  that  childhood  is 
a  thing  of  beginnings,  of  promise;  but  a  social 
work  second  only  to  the  creation  of  life  is  now 
before  the  conscientious  parent,  upon  whom  is 
laid  the  task  of  fashioning  a  new  generation, 
and  preserving  greatness,  heroism,  and  ideal- 
ism for  the  race.  Only  God  can  bring  up  a 
child.  Nothing  will  bridge  the  abyss  of  the 
actual  and  the  ideal,  except  faith,  hope,  love, 
work,  and  the  immediate  help  of  divinity. 

We  also  find  that  we  must  fling  ourselves 
into  the  task.  Apathy  never  awakens  enthu- 
siasm. Prayer,  not  inattention,  wins.  And 
yet  what  thunders  at  us,  even  above  the  gen- 
eral roar  of  American  life,  is  that  parents  who 
apparently  wish  to  guide  their  child  aright, 
themselves  chase  every  phantom  of  the  world, 
and  surround  themselves  with  influences  antago- 
nistic to  a  faithful  Christian  life.  Later,  these 
very  parents  mourn  that  their  children  do  not 
display  the  inspirational  traits  of  humanity. 


12       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

Truth,  courage,  justice,  patience,  magnanim- 
ity, industry,  loyalty,  mental  vigor,  talent, 
energy,  mercy,  honesty,  chastity,  earnestness, 
decision  of  character,  chivalry,  tenderness,  sym- 
pathy, moral  heroism,  filial  and  conjugal  affec- 
tion, reverence,  and  spiritual  intensity,  all  have 
a  reason  for  being,  and  a  means  of  develop- 
ment. Why  do  we  not  foster  these  lovely 
qualities,  if  we  really  desire  that  they  should 
live  and  grow  ? 

Next,  let  us  set  down  on  another  sheet  of 
paper  an  outline  of  the  religious  education  that 
we  propose  to  give  our  children  before  they 
are,  say,  ten  years  of  age.  Ought  not  children 
of  ten  to  have  a  general  familiarity  with  the 
whole  Bible,  a  connected  idea  of  Biblical  his- 
tory, and  of  its  heroic  figures,  and  a  memoriter 
knowledge  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  many 
passages  of  Scripture,  the  Creed,  and  the 
church  catechism?  Ought  not  such  children 
to  have  read  and  enjoyed  "  Pilgrim's  Progress," 
and  other  sterling  religious  books  ?  Ought 
they  not  to  know  many  of  the  great  hymns 
of  the  church,  —  words  and  music  ?  Ought 
they  not  to  know  the  outline  of  the  lives  of 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CAEE  OF  A   CHILD      13 

at  least  ten  or  twelve  of  the  church  reform- 
ers, and  to  have  an  idea  of  the  way  in  which 
Christendom  is  organized  in  denominations 
and  religious  societies?  Ought  they  not  to 
be  familiar  with  the  lives  of  ten  or  twelve  of 
the  historic  missionaries  of  the  church,  know- 
ing the  country  in  which  they  labored,  the 
class  of  people  chiefly  reached,  and  the  main 
things  which  civilization  owes  to  their  work  ? 
Ought  they  not  to  know  something  of  the 
pictures,  sculpture,  and  architecture  of  great 
religious  art  ?  Ought  they  not  to  have  an  idea 
of  the  long  struggle  for  religious  liberty  and 
human  freedom  ? 

Any  teaching  of  doctrine  should  be  as  clear 
as  the  teaching  of  a  lesson  in  history  or  mathe- 
matics. The  study  of  religious  truth  should 
never  be  made  easy  or  maudlin,  but  should 
demand  thought  and  attention.  Ought  not 
children  of  ten  to  understand  something  of  the 
meaning  of  law,  and  the  way  in  which  law 
reaches  from  the  nursery  to  the  moral  order 
of  the  universe  ?  Ought  they  not  to  have  an 
idea  of  God,  of  the  Trinity,  of  the  life  and 
work  of  Christ,  of  the  influence  of  the  Spirit, 


14       THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

and  of  the  meaning  of  sin,  of  conversion,  of 
providence,  of  duty,  of  divine  sovereignty,  of 
personal  accountability,  and  of  immortality? 
Ought  they  not  to  have  been  thrilled  by  the 
heroic  Christian  virtues?  Ought  they  not  to 
have  been  drilled  in  the  showing  forth  of  prac- 
tical piety,  —  in  the  self-restraint,  unselfish- 
ness, courage  and  fidelity  of  the  Christian 
life?  Above  all,  ought  not  a  child  of  this 
age  to  be  definitely  and  positively  a  Christian 
child? 

Where  do  we  get  our  idea  that  all  human 
beings  should  be  dragged  from  waywardness 
to  God?  If  they  ever  get  away  from  Him, 
they  must  return;  but  the  natural  process 
should  be  an  unfolding  of  the  spirit  Godward, 
and  there  are  children  who  have  never  had  a 
moment's  consciousness  of  alienation.  From 
Him  they  came,  and  His  they  are. 

The  Sabbath-school,  however  helpful,  can- 
not, in  an  hour  a  week,  produce  this  type  of 
education.  School  systems  cannot  at  present 
carry  it  out.  Its  foundations  must  be  laid  in 
the  home,  and  it  must  be  maintained  with  daily 
vigor  and  thoroughness.  It  is  a  brave  person 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CAEE  OF  A   CHILD      15 

who  will  dare  give  any  suggestions,  but  one  or 
two  simple  points  may  perhaps  be  noted. 

First,  the  Sabbath  must  be  at  once  removed 
from  worldly  care,  business,  and  mere  idleness 
or  pleasure.  Stately  and  supreme,  it  rises 
above  earth's  turmoil,  and  calls  to  reverence 
and  devotion.  If  those  splendid  hours  that 
are  meant  to  be  the  soul's  best  heritage  are 
given  to  worship  and  the  spiritual  care  of  child- 
hood, there  will  come  a  blessing  that  will  be 
not  only  domestic,  but  national.  For  much 
of  the  present-day  hysterics  and  insanity  are 
due,  from  a  strictly  medical  point  of  view,  to 
our  lack  of  rest,  insight,  and  repose.  Seven- 
day  business  eats  out  nerve  and  brain.  But 
inspiration  is  tonic,  and  a  well-ordered  Sabbath 
is  the  utmost  refreshment  of  nature. 

Again,  the  Bible  is  the  fundamental  text- 
book. Modern  education  wastes  a  great  deal 
of  time.  A  child  may  be  taught  at  home  to 
read  directly  from  the  Bible  (of  course  a  Bible 
with  pictures),  and  it  may  be  made  his  earliest 
story-book.  After  the  first  few  primer  words 
have  been  learned,  one  of  the  simple  Bible 
stories  or  parables  may  be  read  to  a  child,  and 


16       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

he  may  then  be  allowed  to  pick  out  the  words 
of  the  text,  reading  a  very  little  at  a  time, 
and  going  over  the  same  verses  for  some  con- 
secutive days.  By  this  method,  a  child  learns 
to  read  with  great  rapidity.  After  drill  in 
his  Bible  work,  he  can  read  any  book,  and  all 
the  time  otherwise  spent  on  less  literature  has 
been  gained,  with  the  additional  point  that  he 
has  learned  to  love  the  Bible,  which,  with  its 
fascinating  pictures,  stories,  and  strangely  beau- 
tiful wording,  is  his  first  introduction  to  the 
world  of  letters.  And  this  earliest  familiarity 
and  affection  he  will  not  only  never  outgrow, 
but  his  style  will  be  marked  with  vigor  and 
fine  imagery. 

"Pilgrim's  Progress"  may  be  made  attractive 
by  buying  a  large  copy  with  good  pictures, 
mounting  it,  if  necessary,  on  a  music-stand, 
and  for  the  first  year,  with  very  young  children, 
reading  only  as  far  as  where  the  burden  rolls  off 
at  the  foot  of  the  Cross.  When  he  gets  to  be 
five  or  six  years  old,  a  child  will  beg  for  the 
rest  of  the  story,  and  will  read  it,  or  wish  it  read 
to  him,  many  times  over,  for,  to  an  imaginative 
child,  it  is  a  story  of  endless  interest. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CAEE  OF  A   CHILD      17 

Again,  family  prayers  will  be  maintained  in 
every  representative  Christian  home.  They 
are  highly  educational,  and  may  be  made  an 
intellectual  delight.  We  err  if  we  are  too 
formal.  Let  us  not  think  of  family  prayers  as 
an  unvarying  formula,  but  as  a  progressive 
form  of  life.  They  should  be  vital  and  eager, 
adapted  to  the  age  and  development  of  the 
child,  and  increasingly  intellectual  in  outlook. 

With  small  children  a  simple  hymn  and 
reading  are  enough,  using  the  Sunday-school 
lesson  as  the  basis  of  the  reading,  letting  the 
children  themselves  read  it  each  morning  dur- 
ing the  week,  and  taking  up  each  day  one  or 
two  topics  connected  with  it  for  explanation. 
At  the  close  of  prayers  it  does  not  hurt  to 
play  "Onward,  Christian  Soldiers,"  or  some 
other  stirring  music,  letting  the  children  march 
around  the  house  as  a  part  of  their  devotions, 
and,  if  they  wish,  carrying  a  flag  or  a  doll- 
baby!  It  is  not  irreverent  to  be  happy,  and 
in  this  way  they  associate  prayers,  not  with 
a  stiff  exercise  in  which  they  must  sit  up 
and  keep  their  feet  still,  but  with  life,  music, 
energy,  motion,  and  feel  instinctively  that  in 


18       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

this  little  service  they  are  keyed  to  a  bright 
and  joyful  day. 

As  they  grow  older,  this  form  of  worship 
may  gradually  change  and  become  a  season  of 
eager  study.  The  Sunday-school  lesson  is 
used  only  once  a  week.  Whole  books  of  the 
Bible  are  undertaken  and  read  through. 
Revelation  has  a  special  charm  for  children. 
We  all  know  the  story  of  the  little  boy  who, 
when  called  by  his  mother  to  do  an  errand, 
asked  to  be  let  alone  for  a  few  moments,  until 
he  "finished  binding  Satan  for  a  thousand 
years;"  and  the  Angel  with  a  Chain,  the  Beast, 
the  White  Horse,  and  the  New  Jerusalem  hold 
the  hearts  of  children  with  a  spell.  The 
Gospels,  Isaiah,  Ruth,  many  of  the  Epistles, 
Daniel,  Jonah,  Esther,  Genesis  and  Exodus, 
and  Joshua,  all  have  a  special  appeal.  Next  in 
turn  comes  a  love  of  the  Psalms  and  the  great 
imagery  of  Job. 

This  period,  —  I  am  thinking  of  children 
between  seven  and  ten,  —  is  the  time  to  intro- 
duce church  history  and  missionary  biography. 
If  there  is  not  time  in  the  morning  hour,  it  can 
be  done  at  nightfall,  in  the  precious  "chil- 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CAEE  OF  A   CHILD       19 

dren's  hour."  Children  from  six  years  of  age 
upward  will  follow  the  course  of  Livingstone 
on  a  map  with  the  greatest  eagerness.  How 
they  enjoy  the  animals  he  saw,  and  how  the 
African  names  roll  out!  Paton  and  Moffat 
also  interest  children  especially,  and  they 
love  the  life  of  Florence  Nightingale,  who 
began  her  career  by  nursing  a  shepherd's  dog. 
Stanley,  Duff,  Eliot,  Brainerd,  Carey,  Mackay, 
Patteson,  Crowther,  Martyn,  Heber,  Judson, 
John  Williams,  and  Hannington  are  names  that 
children  delight  to  know,  as  well  as  the  names 
of  Knox,  Calvin,  Luther,  Wesley,  Fox,  Melanc- 
thon,  Tyndale,  Margaret  of  Navarre,  Huss, 
Admiral  Coligny,  Wishart,  Coverdale,  and 
others.  In  reading  these  heroic  lives,  and  in 
talking  of  them,  something  great  seizes  upon 
the  life  of  a  child.  Such  books  add  to  the 
moral  fibre  of  the  child,  and  are  intensely 
stimulating  intellectually,  and  yet  they  do  not 
in  any  way  lead  to  precocious  thoughts  or 
feelings. 

Cut  out  from  the  newspapers,  also,  incidents 
displaying  human  heroism,  and  speak  of  them 
at  prayer  time.  Here  and  there,  as  opportunity 


20       THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

offers,  can  be  fitted  in  talks  on  great  human 
subjects.  Such  topics  ought  never  to  be  forced 
in  a  cold  way,  but  should  come  up  naturally 
from  some  question,  event,  or  stray  bit  of 
reading.  Little  talks  on  honor,  on  chivalry, 
friendship,  love,  honesty,  devotion  to  parents, 
fidelity  to  conscience,  may  be  woven  in  so 
gently  that  they  are  not  felt  to  be  didactic, 
and  yet  so  firmly  that  the  ideals  inculcated 
become  a  part  of  the  child's  very  being. 

Prayers  should  rise  for  every  emergency  of 
sorrow,  illness,  trial,  temptation,  and  also  in 
thanksgiving  and  gratitude  for  the  usual  joyful 
course  of  life.  Let  the  child  learn  to  look 
heavenward,  not  only  for  succor,  but  for  inspi- 
ration. Do  not  be  afraid  to  pray  in  a  noble 
and  majestic  way.  Throw  imagination,  sym- 
pathy, and  idealism  into  family  prayers. 
Nothing  touches  a  child  more  deeply  than  to 
be  thrilled  by  its  own  parent,  and  the  hearth  is 
an  altar  on  which  one's  ultimate  grandeur  may 
be  laid. 

And  let  the  music  at  prayer  time  have  a 
triumphant  and  martial  ring.  Prepare  the 
child  for  victory.  Let  the  young  voices  thun- 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CAEE  OF  A   CHILD      21 

der  in  the  great  processionals  and  paeans  of 
the  church.  Occasionally  a  word  can  be  said 
about  the  authorship  of  the  words  or  music. 
Heber's  hymns  are  much  more  interesting  than 
indefinite  stanzas.  Buy  some  of  the  best  ora- 
torios or  other  church  music,  and  as  various 
selections  are  rendered  by  the  choir  in  the 
church,  refer  to  them  at  home,  and  play  some 
of  the  movements  and  anthems.  In  such  and 
other  ways,  the  constructive  work  of  the  spirit 
may  be  kept  before  the  minds  of  children. 
Unconsciously  they  breathe  the  atmosphere  of 
great  work,  and  are  led  to  resist  inferior  stand- 
ards. Thus  the  hour  for  devotion  may  be 
made  the  most  ardent  of  the  day. 

Choosing  a  school  for  a  child  is  almost  as 
difficult  as  choosing  a  place  for  its  home. 
What  is  its  atmosphere?  —  that  spirit  of 
loyalty,  attention,  discipline,  social  culture, 
intellectual  energy,  and  spiritual  aspiration 
which  is  a  curious  combination  of  the  influence 
of  the  principal,  the  teachers,  the  students, 
the  parents,  the  visitors,  the  community-stand- 
ards, and  the  memory  of  those  who  have  once 
been  teachers  or  pupils  of  the  school.  The 


22       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

school  and  the  college  never  forget  —  something 
of  every  being  remains.  For  years  and  gen- 
erations the  human  personality  flits  through 
corridor  and  hall.  Going  back  to  the  city  or 
the  country  schoolhouse,  or  to  Farmington, 
Exeter,  Andover,  Groton,  Eton,  Rugby,  Har- 
vard, Pennsylvania,  Oxford,  Gottingen,  Welles- 
ley,  Vassar,  Williams,  Yale,  does  one  not  still 
feel  the  presence,  hear  the  voice,  and  kindle 
with  the  ardor  of  the  absent  and  the  dead? 
It  is  inheritance  and  tradition  that  are  spirit- 
ually upbuilding  in  the  school  life  of  a  child, 
as  well  as  its  immediate  environment  and  com- 
rades. If  we  could  lead  ourselves  to  look, 
not  for  fashion  or  prestige,  or  cost  or  cheap- 
ness, or  outward  manners,  furnishings,  or  wealth 
or  style,  but  to  the  heart  of  the  school,  to  its 
core  of  sincerity,  and  to  the  personality  of  its 
teachers  who  should  glow  with  love  and  life, 
we  would  more  readily  fit  our  children  into 
the  larger  ways  of  civilization,  and  the  divine 
order  of  progress.  The  special  value  of  the 
public  schools  is  their  wonderful  fidelity  to 
dreams  of  patriotism,  truth,  courage,  individual 
merit,  honesty,  justice,  and  the  public  order. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD      23 

Choosing  a  church  is  more  difficult  yet.  If 
our  children  are  to  be  large-minded,  their 
environment  must  be  great.  Oh,  let  us  never, 
by  any  chance,  get  into  a  dull  and  dragging 
church!  Let  us  pray  for  a  pastor  who  shall  be 
a  man  of  fire.  Let  him  kindle  the  hearts  of 
our  children  into  spiritual  flame.  May  they, 
in  their  turn,  join  the  noble  company  of 
prophets,  martyrs,  saints,  and  seers,  and  be  of 
the  great  historic  train  of  those  who  bear  aloft 
the  banner  of  the  Cross,  and  aid  in  the  world- 
conquest.  May  the  congregation  be  orderly, 
reverent,  and  eager,  and  mutually  helpful  and 
friendly.  May  the  cause  of  missions,  and  all 
other  inspirational  causes,  be  exalted,  and  the 
devoted  energy  of  the  whole  church  community 
be  thrown  into  the  most  modern  and  pro- 
gressive forms  of  social  service. 

For  after  all  is  said,  the  church  is  one  of  the 
most  potent  forces  to  mould  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  men.  Silently,  tenderly,  persuasively, 
it  lays  its  touch  upon  the  spirit,  and  I  often 
wonder  if  we  ever  rise  above  our  early  pastor's 
dreams.  In  many  a  child's  heart  he  sets  forever 
the  standards  of  aspiration  and  achievement. 


24       THE  SPIRITUAL   CAEE  OF  A   CHILD 

As  to  the  companions  of  a  child,  we  can 
gather,  but  we  cannot  choose.  Each  child 
knows  its  own  mate,  and  no  force  nor  entreaty 
can  change  the  immutable  decree  of  nature. 
But  we  can  form  a  circle  that  is  rational  and 
suitable,  not  forgetting  that  sometimes  the 
most  golden  hearts  and  manners  are  within 
very  simple  doorways.  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  phase  of  a  child's  life  is  when  the 
little  heart  begins  to  move  out  into  the  world, 
and,  among  many  companions,  to  pick  out  the 
special  little  friend  to  love.  Here  no  guidance 
is  too  gentle,  nor  any  care  too  great.  Simpli- 
city is  the  great  safeguard.  The  sophisti- 
cated child  is  always  in  danger,  —  the  one  who 
knows  too  early  the  untruths,  the  vanities,  and 
perfidies  of  life,  —  but  a  fresh  and  unspoilt  spirit 
instinctively  clings  to  comradeship  of  purity 
and  truth. 

And  in  that  little  child-world,  with  its  boyish 
fights,  and  its  hot,  girlish  quarrels,  there  is  in 
miniature  all  the  rest  of  life.  Now  is  the  time 
to  train  for  real  romance,  —  to  accept  the 
affections  as  a  growing  force,  to  receive  confi- 
dences, and  to  lead  the  fast-developing  nature 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CAEE  OF  A   CHILD      25 

into  great  ideals  of  human  love,  of  honor,  of 
conjugal  fidelity,  of  social  stability,  and  of 
parental  responsibility. 

When  the  hour  of  romance  comes  to  a  boy 
or  girl,  it  is  possible  to  turn  the  life  into  all 
dark  ways  of  frivolity,  sentimentality,  caprice, 
passion,  bitterness,  and  despair,  or  to  lead  it 
gently  and  truly  out  into  a  world  of  splendor 
and  of  power.  Even  the  hurts  of  love  can 
teach,  and  nothing  is  more  educative  than  a 
regal  love-affair.  We  have  mastered  one  of 
the  most  difficult  problems  if  we  can  succeed 
in  leading  a  child  to  look  upon  human  love  in 
its  more  spiritual  aspects,  —  to  think  of  romance 
in  its  more  delicate  beauty,  —  to  dream  of  a 
mate  who  shall  be  a  mate  for  the  soul.  Much 
of  our  deeper  life  is  a  search  for  this  twin- 
spirit,  and  in  eternity  we  shall  know  why. 

But  a  training  for  conjugal  virtue  lies  deeper 
far  than  this,  —  in  the  implanting  of  traits  of 
patience,  forbearance,  and  a  love  of  justice; 
in  a  refinement  of  spirit  that  abhors  evil 
thoughts  or  ways;  in  that  strict  acceptance  of 
duty  which  nowhere  wins  so  little  outward 
glory  as  in  the  conjugal  estate,  but  which  is 


26       THE  SPIRITUAL  CAEE  OF  A   CHILD 

the  underlying  girder  of  the  social  structure. 
Married  life  means  the  shouldering  of  care,  and 
its  happiness  and  tenderness  are  to  be  main- 
tained, not  only  by  fidelity  and  courtesy,  but 
also  by  carrying  cheerfully  the  daily  task. 

A  vital  peril  in  American  life  to-day  is  the 
lack  of  old-fashioned  girlhood  and  boyhood. 
Our  children  must  be  sheltered,  not  only  from 
the  natural  elements,  such  as  storm  and  hail 
and  snow,  but  from  precocity,  and  from  demor- 
alization of  soul.  Unreal  novels,  theatre-going, 
dancing  parties,  expensive  tastes,  and  un- 
chaperoned  roamings  for  young  boys  and  girls 
are  deadly  in  their  injury  to  simplicity  and 
innocence.  Out-door  sports,  healthful  compan- 
ionship by  the  home  fireside,  good  books,  simple 
tastes,  and  meetings  under  surroundings  that 
are  suitable  and  friendly  must  take  the  place 
of  these  exciting  amusements,  if  we  are  to 
guard  our  children's  youth  and.  freshness. 

Shakespeare's  heroines  are  not  jaded,  and 
Wordsworth's  women  are  as  dainty  as  a 
dream.  Tennyson's  pictures  of  girlhood  are 
like  a  wild  rose.  Why  should  youth  forfeit 
sweetness  and  every  girlish  grace  ?  Manhood 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD      27 

and  womanhood  have  a  commanding  virtue 
wholly  lost  in  apish  imitation. 

Ideals  of  human  love  and  tenderness  exist. 
There  is  a  martial  courage  that  is  not  afraid  to 
meet  the  facts  of  life  ;  there  is  a  sturdy  energy 
that  does  not  droop  in  discontent.  Read  the 
story  of  James  and  Helen  Chalmers  in  New 
Guinea;  of  Robert  and  Mary  Moffat  in  the 
wilds  of  Africa  ;  of  Livingstone  and  his  wife, 
who  was  Moffat's  daughter;  of  John  Halifax 
and  the  girlhood  of  his  bride.  Read  "  Sesame 
and  Lilies,"  "Sonnets  from  the  Portuguese," 
"  The  Princess,"  "  The  Miller's  Wife,"  Jeremy 
Taylor's  sermons  on  love  and  marriage;  Emer- 
son's "  Friendship,"  and  Spenser's  "  Epitha- 
lamium,"  and  fit  the  heart  for  life  by  biogra- 
phy, poetry,  and  an  occasional  really  great 
novel,  instead  of  by  the  gossip  and  catch-tale 
of  the  hour. 

The  standards  of  love  are  rising  every  day. 
Despite  the  social  vexation  and  unrest  of  the 
times,  there  has  never  been  an  age  in  which 
men  and  women  so  deeply  loved  each  other,  in 
which  the  chords  of  their  talents  and  energies 
responded  with  so  much  sweetness  to  each 


28       THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

other,  or  vibrated  in  such  unison  for  world- 
welfare.  To  the  children  of  these  parents  shall 
we  not  look  for  some  of  the  great  spiritual 
triumphs  of  the  race  ?  Conceived  in  tender- 
ness, born  to  ideals  and  world-imagery,  trained 
to  social  service,  dedicated  to  aspiration  and 
devotion,  they  are  the  flower  of  humanity,  and, 
by  God's  help,  shall  in  their  day  and  generation 
reveal  a  larger  world  to  man. 

Economics  has  two  sides.  We  may  firmly 
teach  a  child  that  he  must  be  business-like  and 
self-supporting,  and  yet  greatly  err  in  our 
training  if  we  do  not  also  teach  him  that  each 
human  being  is  socially  responsible,  not  only 
for  the  honest  earning  of  his  income  and  the 
well-balanced  general  investment  and  expendi- 
ture of  it,  but  also  for  the  social  burden  of 
poverty,  ignorance,  or  misfortune,  which  must 
forever  be  carried,  and  as  far  as  possible 
diminished,  by  those  of  normal  income-earning 
power.  Giving  is  a  straight  duty,  but  the 
giving  should  also  be  conducted  in  a  scientific 
way. 

All  training  should  provide  for  growth  and 
adventure.  Life  is  a  set-to.  Civilization,  from 


THE  SPIRITUAL  CARE  OF  A   CHILD      29 

one  point  of  view,  is  a  higher  sort  of  fisticuffs. 
There  are  hours  when  the  soul  dances  like  a 
savage,  and  there  is  a  trace  of  prehistoric 
wildness  in  all  brave  spirits.  A  boy  longs  to 
feel  life  within  him  as  well  as  to  watch  it 
from  without,  —  craves  danger,  excitement,  and 
new  experiences  of  many  kinds ;  invents 
jungles  and  Indian-plays ;  likes  thrills  and 
hair-raising  things.  Let  him  get  his  adven- 
tures in  right  channels,  even  at  some  danger. 
But  for  this,  mothers  need  an  elemental 
courage.  Think  of  Hannington  risking  his 
neck  as  a  boy  on  the  cliffs  for  the  eggs  of 
sea-birds!  Coley  Patteson  in  early  manhood 
climbed  the  Col  de  Geant,  mounting  on  steps 
cut  by  a  hatchet  for  forty  or  fifty  feet  up  a 
sheer  wall  of  ice,  and  descended  the  mountain 
on  "the  worst  day  ever  known  there,"  in  a 
blinding  storm.  Later,  a  youth  asks  to  know 
the  sensations  and  emotions  of  the  race;  leaps 
into  intensity  and  action;  likes  turmoils  and 
difficulties;  exults  in  primitive  anger  and  re- 
sentment, as  well  as  in  the  loftiest  and  most 
ennobling  exaltation.  This  instinct  lies  at  the 
root  of  many  a  lad's  restlessness  in  his  own 


30       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

home.  It  is  not  that  he  loves  home  less,  but 
the  universe  more.  Man  is  an  itinerant  and 
wayfaring  animal.  He  hates  to  be  housed  or 
tied.  He  is  convinced  that  manhood  does  not 
grow  up  in  the  parlor,  or  in  any  sort  of  cloister. 

Let  us  point  out  to  our  boys  the  starry  and 
unstained  stretches  of  human  experience, 
wherein  the  soul  of  man  may  roam  forever, 
in  undying  freedom  and  delight.  Let  us  stir 
them  to  the  great  heroic  actions  of  the  race. 
There  is  a  celestial  ambition,  and  it  is  open  to 
each  new  generation  to  achieve  conquest  and 
remembrance.  By  daring  moral  courage,  by 
discovery,  invention,  insight  into  beauty, 
mastery  of  human  problems,  by  the  creation 
of  new  works  of  engineering  and  of  art,  by 
intellectual  ideals,  by  political  supremacy,  by 
spiritual  service,  one  may  fling  his  life  into 
adventurous  and  Godlike  helpfulness  and  joy. 

If  we  invest  a  child  with  Christlikeness,  we 
invest  the  world  with  a  new  degree  of  spiritual 
power.  It  is  not  an  idle  saying,  that  if  a  child 
be  trained  in  the  way  in  which  he  should  go, 
when  he  is  old,  he  will  not  depart  from  it. 
Psychology  literally  corroborates  the  thought. 


THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD      31 

If  he  be  taught  the  way  of  reverence,  of  prayer, 
faith,  obedience,  and  intellectual  and  physical 
energy,  he  is  the  richer  for  all  the  years  to 
come.  The  conquest  of  life  is  made  easier  for 
him;  all  the  forces  of  habit,  love,  and  will  are 
turned  in  the  way  of  the  divine  purpose. 

Food,  air,  sunshine,  influence,  teaching  and 
surroundings,  pass  into  the  life  of  a  child. 
Far  back  of  his  nourishment  in  infancy  is  the 
inheritance  which  he  has  from  ancestry  and 
tradition,  —  that  reverberation  of  decision  and 
spirituality  which  comes  from  generations  who 
have  walked  with  God.  Of  all  family  enthusi- 
asms, and  pride  of  genealogy,  this  is  perhaps  the 
most  pardonable,  —  the  delight  there  is  to  find, 
on  looking  back  over  a  long  line  of  forefathers, 
that  straight  down  the  line  there  have  been  rep- 
resentative men  and  women  of  faith  and  power. 

And  one  of  the  noble  ideals  of  man  has  been 
to  found  a  great  house  which  should  carry  down, 
from  generation  to  generation,  certain  family 
traits  and  powers  ;  an  hereditary  line  of  intel- 
lectual and  political  ascendancy  and  social 
prestige,  with  characteristic  manners  and  tradi- 
tions. Far  down  the  line  of  our  posterity 


32       THE  SPIRITUAL   CARE  OF  A   CHILD 

. 

there  shall  really  be  renewed  images  of  our 
own  selves:  the  likeness  goes  eternally  on. 

The  encouragement  of  all  educational  work 
is  to  perceive  that  in  the  long  years  of  history 
extraordinary  things  have  been  accomplished. 
The  daily  process  of  training  in  virtue  and 
culture  seems  laborious,  but  effort  is  cumu- 
lative. By  slow  accretions  of  knowledge, 
character,  and  aspiration,  whole  races  have 
risen  from  savagery  or  barbarism,  and  genera- 
tions of  children  have  grown  up  to  praise  God 
and  to  serve  Him.  This  lends  enthusiasm  to 
one's  endeavor.  It  is  our  responsibility  to  have 
large  thoughts  for  humanity,  and  to  work  with 
fidelity  and  energy.  The  very  process  of 
spiritual  evolution  shall  carry  our  work  far 
beyond  our  own  imagination;  it  may  stamp 
history  itself  with  the  image  of  our  dreams. 


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